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Russia Offers EU Land Transport Route to Asia
Russia on Friday offered the European Union (EU) land transport route to Asia as an option for the 15-nation bloc to sharpen the competitiveness of its goods and improve its employment.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told the press after attending the summit of EU heads of state and government that the union could use Russia as a cheap transport route to Asian countries so as to increase the competitiveness of its goods and create more jobs at the same time.
The Russian president also offered cooperation in the energy sector in order to draw more investment from the union that is in the course of readjusting its energy reliance. Russia is abundant with natural gas and talks were already underway concerning the building of a continental pipeline to link Siberia and western Europe.
"The EU leaders have agreed that the EIB (European Investment Bank) will under certain conditions invest in the Russian development by providing financial and services facilities," said Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson. But he did not reveal what the conditions were.
The European leaders discussed setting Chechnya and repayment of debts as the conditions for EIB investment, sources close to the summit said.
The Russian president said that his country had already recognized that the situation in Chechnya was of a humanitarian nature with refugees who need protection and local residents who need better economic conditions.
Putin blamed unemployment in Chechnya as "an important factor" for crimes and the formation of gangs of bandits whom he described as terrorists rather than extremists.
Putin said that Russian troops had pulled out from Chechnya completely in 1996 but the terrorists only filled the most of the vacuum to stir up more instability and even launched aggression against neighboring republics.
He said that Russia had already started pulling troops out of Chechnya again but would maintain enough force to contain the terrorists.
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